Sovereignty: Unearthly Encounters of the Digi-Kind
by Luna Tiger
Summary: There's a threat in the Digiworld, but what if it's origins aren't from the Digiworld or the Real world? What if it was more... alien? This takes place five years after MaloMyotismon. Takari, hints of Jyoushiro, Taijun, and questionable Kensuke.
1. Prologue

Digimon and it's characters do not belong to me. Jasir and Oxinimon (plus his Digi-volutions) do, on the other hand.

Never deny the universe of what it wants;  
you may regret the day you were born. 

Prologue

This world... This world where reason has no form and logic has no purpose. Creatures of all shapes and sizes lived here, in harmony, even when evil monsters roamed the ground, pools, and wind. 

He looked around with brown, unhumane eyes, searching for some way to get back home. _The stromilth must've booted up an alien programming, but from where?_

He walked, glaring at the innocent beasts in his way and hiding when something huge approached and passed. _Kaeda, this place is bizarre. What if this planet is a giant cage for on-lookers to spy on? But, how did I get here? My stromilth isn't powerful enough for teleportation, let alone strong enough to send me to a different world._

A pool came into his view, one of clear white water. It was amazing. He frowned and places his hands on his hips, remembering imediately the strange device he had put in there only a few hours previous to being transferred. He took it out and looked at it. The clear panel on it's-- front?-- was glowing softly. Odd. It hadn't done that before... 

The flora grew still, the wind stopped blowing, and the white water froze. All that he could hear was the low, high-pitch shrill that got louder as seconds past by, originating from the strange machine. 

Suddenly, two creatures popped out from the foliage, a small black one running away from a yellow animal with wing-tipped ears and a hard shell upon it's back. The black one had no feet and hopped along, while the other bounded after it on four stubby legs. "Come back here! I will not allow you to escape!" 

"Help me!" cried the small one as he raced towards the third creature in the small pool-glade: himself. The tiny creature bounced up into his arms and cowered there as the bronze-ish monster slid to a hault, gaping up at him. He sneered. 

The monster began backing away, steps slow and uneasy. "I don't know what you are, but what you have in your hands is an evil waiting to be reborn. If you have any compassion for him, I will have to arrest you by the will of Gennai and the four guardians." 

His eyebrows shot up, curiously. This beast spoke in a strange language, but he could understand it. Was there a translator somewhere? "What are you." 

"My name is Armadillomon, and, I repeat, drop Askabimon or pay the consequences." 

His brows lowered then, drawed together as he frowned, then peered down at the black form in his arms. It shook with fear. It looked like a small, lost child, scared and wanting it's birth-giver. He felt deeply moved by this.... Askabimon. "No. Leave it be, or you, my friend, will be the one paying the consequences." _Why did I just say that?_

"Put him down! You have no idea what you're tampering with!" 

"I do.... I do." 

Armadillomon rushed at him, intending of getting the being to drop the creature. The shrilling rang true and Askabimon jumped from his arms, a white light flooding over his small body. "Askabimon, digi-volve to..... Oxinimon!" 

The light faded, and what was left behind was a bigger monster, black with jagged, grey streaks cutting across his furred back. Pointed ears shot up and a thin, long tail waved back and forth, a puff of red on it's tip. He wasn't much bigger than Armadillomon, but he was, indeed, much stronger as the yellow beast rammed his head into Oxinimon's chest and did no damage. Oxinimon was pushing Armadillomon back, as both fought to make the other heed. 

Oxinimon forced Armadillomon back far enough before lifting him up into his hind legs and shoved him into his shell. Four legs flailed in the air, struggling to get back up on his feet. Armadillomon didn't trust Oxinimon to not pull off a move and the others had to appear soon, or they'd lose the monster for good. "Gatomon! Hawkmon! Saidramon's lake! Now!" 

He frowned once more. What were these names he called out? "Oxinimon, silence him!" 

"Right!" His blue eyes started to glow and cried out, "Black Whisps!" 

A dim, dark mist started to surround the flipped animal, encircling him. Armadillomon had just gotten back onto his feet when it was all around him. He gave a startled gasp when he found that he couldn't escape it. And through the mist, he could see Oxinimon's evil smirk perfectly as he shouted, "Stardust spike!" 

Inside the sphere, white sparks showered the shelled monster and he screamed in pain.... 

~*~*~*~*~

Gatomon raced through the woods on all fours, hurrying towards Saidramon's lake. Hawkmon was sailing above the treetops, flapping his wings as quickly as he could. 

_We can't lose Askabimon now,_ thought the white cat. _All that work will be for nothing..._

Both came upon the glade at the same time, finding it empty in the fadce of the night. "Rats," said Hawkmon, landing beside Gatomon. "They aren't here... but what is that smell?" 

"I don't know. Smells morbid, though...." Her night vision showed nothing in the glade that indicated where Armadillomon or Askabimon went to... Wait. "Over there!" She pointed a gloved claw over on the other side of the small pond, something black, huddled on the ground. "Come on, let's go!" 

The small avian followed Gatomon around the curve of the lake towards what she saw. When she stopped over the black form, gave a start and cried out, "Armadillomon!" 

The armored digimon was burned to a crisp and barely holding on to his thread of life. He was hardly recognizable and the funny smell was strong. The golden shell was cracked, blood slowly oozing out of it. Blood was everywhere, in fact, covering the grass and seeping into the ground. 

"Armadillomon, wake up. Please, wake up!" Gatomon was gently shaking the large digimon, keeping in check any frantic motions. "You need to wake up.." 

Hawkmon gave a saddened expression and walked over to the other side of his friend, fanning a light breeze at his face. "C'mon Armadillomon. We'll get you some help... if you just open your eyes." 

As if in answering, the digimon did opened his eyes, but the other two suddenly wished he hadn't. Once bold and blue, those eyes were now bloodshot and white, and a lost tear shed from the one near Gatomon. A hoarse cough errupted from him and the bloodspill quickened. Hawkmon and Gatomon did their best to still him and pressed down on his major wounds. "What happened, Armadillomon?" 

"Aska'mon... he attacked.... Stardust..." 

"Shhhh," cooed Hawkmon, brushing his feathers lightly over Armadillomon's muzzle. "Slow down and take it easy." 

"He digi-volved.... Oxinimon... He... injected a virus.... into me.... Said I won't... be coming back...." 

Gatomon's eyes widened. _A stopping virus. He won't be reborn as a digi-egg._ "Oh... oh no. Armadillomon, we'll get you to Gennai, or maybe Azulongmon or Jijimon or.. or... or someone!" 

"No..." breathed Armadillomon, starting to close his eyes again. "There's..... something else here.... It's not human.. but... I don't know." He could feel his bits of data starting to disperse. "Just.... Somehow.. tell Iori that... I love him." 

The pair of eyes closed, forever, and the once-golden digimon fell laxed, peacefulness crossing over his burnt face. Moments later, he burst into a large cluster of data bits, and the two Choosen digimon watched as they passed through their fingers and light up the night sky with the stars. 

~*~*~*~*~

"Okay, now, repeat what I told you." 

"This place is called the Digital World, or Digiworld for short, home of digimon, or digital monsters. They are a part of a mainframe that only people from Earth have been able to tap into. There are three kinds of digimon: vaccine, data, and virus. You are a virus. What I have is a digivice which allows you to digi-volve, a process that makes digimon stronger. There are seven stages, six minus the egg stage. Baby, in-training, rookie, champion, ultimate, and mega. You are a rookie." 

Oxinimon smiled toothily. "You're a fast learner, Jasir. I'm honored to be your partner." 

Jasir nodded and stood up, holding Oxinimon in his arms. "I hope so, because," he gestured with a free hand to the beautiful landscape, "this world.. is so breathtaking... I want it." 

"This is our destiny, Jasir. I'll follow you, no matter what we become or what happens. Evil or good." 

The boy smirked. "This will be ours, Oxinimon. I promise you." 


	2. Chapter One

  
  
Chapter 1 

  
  
Takaishi Takeru flipped the page of his textbook and continued to read about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was pretty boring stuff, global history, considering the wars he himself had to face at the young age of eight. Who wants to remember the horrors that Japan did during the second World War anyway? 

Closing the book with a slam, TK shoved the book back into his bag and sighed, suddenly feeling down in the dumps. On his desk were many photo frames of him, his family, Matt's band.... and the Digidestined. From Japan, China, India, Russia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America.... All of the kids they had met while traveling the word to return all the stray digimon back to the Digital World. There were one or two photos of all of the Nippojin Children, the younger version of the first group, the older kids now, the new kids then, the new kids more recently... oh god. Not only did they litter his desktop, many had made their way onto the wall as well. But, there was one... there was always the one that made him smile. The photo of him and Yagami Hikari at the 10th grade snowflake ball. She was laughing in the picture, nestle up against TK while he held her. 

It made him smile even now. 

And now, everyone was beginning to grow up. Motomiya Daisuke had given up on his quest to woo Kari into his arms and undivided attention and turned his love for her into art. He'd discovered the paintbrush and canvas and put them to use very well. Ichijouji Ken.. he was already in college. Some of Osamu's supressed smarts were still left over and Ken used them to hurry up his education for the only reason to finish up school as quick as he possibly could. Inoue Miyako had moved to Korea, where she kept in touch frequently. 

But Hida Iori..... Cody hated the Digidestined and tried to keep away from them as much as possible. Sometimes though, he'd make a small conversation with Kido Jyou, Izumi Koushi or Davis, but if it came to TK or Ken, he'd walk right away and blow up in our faces if they tried to talk to him. 

It was all because of Armadillomon's death four years ago. Gatomon was able to relay the message in an e-mail to Kari, explaining how a virus digimon had poisoned the armored digimon's program into not being reborn. When Cody had heard of this, he had rounded violently on Takeru and Ken, accusing them of being too good for life to let their digimon die and how they were 'perfect' when it came to both worlds, one in the Real world and the other in the Digiworld. After that, he never talked to anyone. He was no longer a Digidestined. 

Not that he didn't make new friends. He had to. Yolei moved for Korea short afterwards and Cody lost his best friend to a new country. But now that his associates were the cause of his partner's death, he wanted nothing to do with them, so he left. 

As for the older kids, life was grand. Joe had become a doctor, like his father wanted and made a great living. Sora now lived in America and participated in the junior US Open yearly. Mimi still lived in America, was engaged to Michael, and, with the help of his father, started her own fashion line. Izzy still lived at home. Yamato was traveling the world with his band, and Taichi.... well... Tai was the only one not happy. He was still stuck in Odaiba, working as a soccer coach in the fall and a store clerk in the local sports equipment department store the rest of the time. 

Putting his head down on the desk, the blonde closed his eyes and began to remember those old times of when digimon were their lives... 

That's when the phone took the liberty to ring. 

TK reached out for the receiver and placed it against his ear. "If this is someone selling me something, I'm too young to do so." 

"Ha ha, TK. It's Izzy." 

His head picked up and a smile crossed his face. "Izzy? Hey! How are you?" 

"I'm fine. Listen, I just got an e-mail--" 

"That it? You call me at..." he looked over at his clock, "11:30 at night to tell me you got an e-mail?" 

"If I wasn't convinced you're Matt's brother, that just did it. No, TK. It's from Gennai. .... TK? Takeru! Are you listening?" 

Well, no, he wasn't listening. The phone had dropped right out of his hand and landed silently on the carpeted floor. Gennai meant the Digiworld, and the Digiworld meant Patamon. But Gennai also meant something very bad was going down.. 

"TK!!" 

_Huh?_ "Oh." Takeru picked up the phone, blushing. "Sorry Ko-san. You surprised me." 

"Anyway, the plan is to meet tomorrow morning. Joe's got the day off and Tai's off work. Come to my house before ten?" 

"Sure, I'll be there. Ja, Ko-san." 

"Ja ne, TK." 

He hung up the phone and put his head down again. _Patamon, I miss you. Sure, the brief intervals over the years are fun, but it's just not the same...._ He chuckled quietly. _Hogmon... I was so sure you'd become a pig, but now, you're an angel. My angel.. Just like Angewomon and... Kari._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Davis yawned as he led himself to Izzy's room after Mrs. Izumi invited him in. She said something about having other kids over already... Heh. Like Daisuke wanted to listen. All he wanted was sleep. 

Izzy's room was crowded with a few bodies, but he didn't care. Koushiro's bed was soft... Very soft... This is what he got for staying awake all of last night painting this one really pretty painting... Leonardo De Vinci he was not, but that never stopped him. 

Don't get him wrong. He wanted to see Veemon very badly; that's one of the reasons he couldn't sleep last night and stayed up. But right now, Mr. Sandman was calling his name. 

~*~*~*~*~

Ken rolled his eyes gently at Daisuke's rudeness, falling asleep like that. Hikari giggled quietly beside him. Both had been discussing seeing their digimon again, while Taichi pestered Koushiro into spilling his guts. The young computer genius was refusing to reveal what Gennai had told him until TK and Jyou arrived, but Tai bothered him anyway. Ken leaned back in the chair and smiled as Kari reached over to tug on Tai's sleeve, telling him to leave Izzy alone. It had been quite a while since they grouped together like this, even if they were missing some people. "Hey Izzy," he said, catching the red head's attention. "Did you call Iori?" 

The room fell silent, except for Davis' soft snores, when the two Kamiya children quieted to hear Koushiro's answer as well. The boy nodded solemnly. "I did. He took his time deciding and asked if Armadillomon was involved. I told him it might not and then he asked if you or TK were coming.... I couldn't lie." 

Ken winced and nodded. "I understand. I guess he'll always hate us for the restoration of Wormmon and Patamon... I can't blame him, though. TK was young at the time, easily traumatized by the lose of a dear friend. And I did go into withdrawl.. probably would have been a mindless zombie if I hadn't known Wormmon could be restored so I could apologize for what I've done." 

Kari gave a soft smile. "All those psycology classes are paying off." 

Ken nodded and was about to say something when Joe and TK burst into the room, a bit out of breath. "Sorry.. we're late..." wheezed Jyou, tossing his medical bag (a newer one; he *is* a doctor, after all) onto the bed, just missing Daisuke's head with practiced easy. "Traffic... was absolutely horrible!" 

"Yeah... we hit every red light.... in the whole city!" 

"And I was also late.... getting out of the.. hospital..." 

"Geez, guys, calm down," said Tai, blinking like he couldn't believe it. "Why're you out of breath?" 

And in unison, both men said, "Elavator's broken!" 

Both Izzy and Tai keeled over onto the floor, Kari started to chuckle lightly, Ken gave a small smile, and Davis continued on sleeping. Izzy righted himself back into his chair and made a face. "It was working just fine an hour ago. What happened?" 

TK flopped down onto the rug, splaying himself over it. "Some lady.... really large... we're talking huge!... got on the elevator before up and those cables just couldn't move... some snapped." 

"Of course, she was mortified... but," Jyou pulled up the last chair and leaned back against it, letting his head fall back, "that's not the point. Your elavtor is out and we had to take the stairs." 

Large sweatdrops appeared on everyone's head, knowing fully well Izzy lived on the 7th floor to an eight floor building. Koushiro groaned. He always said he'd someday go on an exercise diet, but not like this. 

Ken raised an eyebrow, curious. "You guys... ran up all of those flights of stairs? I'm impressed." 

"Who cares about that! Izzy! Now can you tells us what Gennai told you??" 

"Of course. Now, if you'd all---... Davis?" 

Snore. 

"Davis." 

Snort. 

"Daisuke!!" 

He jumped, startled, screaming, "Wah! I'm up, I'm--" which resulted in him falling off the bed and ending up face down on the ground. "Ow.." 

"Now, as," Davis lifted up his up, pain tears hanging from under his eyes as Koushiro spoke, "I was saying.. Gennai said that there is indeed a new threat to the Digital World. It started four years ago, a little before the expiration of Armadillomon. For a year before that, Elecmon, Gennai, and several of the Choosen Digimon were on the look-out for a digimon called ViBotamon and he was finally found. 

"ViBotamon is a legendary devil digimon and supposedly evil to the core, but Azulongmon would not let ViBotamon be destroyed. 'Let the black flower blossom as it may,' he said, and they did. He digi-volved into Askabimon and starting causing mischief. In the end, proof of this in-training digimon's power came to light when he injured a champion digimon badly and recieved no damage to himself. 

"They tried to confine him then, but he escaped and made a run for it. Hawkmon, Armadillomon, and Gatomon were the ones to persue. Yes, that was the same day Armadillomon was deleted. After that, they lost his detection signal. It was only a week ago that they picked him up again. 

"The guardian megas also discovered the presense of someone with him. Why it took this long, Gennai didn't tell me why, preferably because they couldn't tell him why. It seems the person with him is a Digidestined, having a digivice and a tag and crest. No one's been able to track his form level, however, so he could be only an Ultimate... but after four years, that might be just a desperate wish. 

"Gennai was insistant about bringing those that are in this room, which is not a coincidence that we are still in Japan. 

"Hikari and TK, for the good old reason that they are the Children of the Angels. 

"Tai, because Agumon is the most powerful Mega that doesn't rely on angelic powers. 

"Jyou... well, because this *might*, and I stress that, get a little ugly." 

The older blue-haired man sighed, hunching over and staring at the floor, hands on his head. "Ah, the story of my life. I'm only here to cure." 

Tzzy sweatdropped. "We also need you for Gomamon." 

Joe pouted. "You never need me for me. .. Well, except for the doctor stuff, but that doesn't count; it's only my occupation." 

The sweatdrop grew larger and Koushiro chuckled nervously. "We also need you because your smarter than the rest of us on a physical level." 

"I thought Ken was the genius." 

"DAH! JYOUTHAT'SMENTALLY! GENNAIJUSTWANTSYOU! IDIDN'TCHOOSETHEROSTER!!" 

"Well you don't have to get all upset about it. Sheesh, Kou-kun." 

Izzy just glared, complete with the twitching eyebrow and half-lidded, dotted eyes, and then sighed. "Ken, you yourself know of the Darkness and might be able to figure this out. Also, Wormmon is a Virus and could be useful. And Dai..." 

Davis brightened a little at his name. 

".....All Gennai wants you for is so that we can Jogress Wormmon and Veemon into Imperialdramon." 

Ouch. 

Davis collapsed, petrified. A pink speech bubble appeared, housing a crying Daisuke head, saying, "An artist is never appreciated." 

While the red-head stayed stoned, Izzy only shrugged. "Are we all ready?" 

When no one objected to not being so, Izzy swirled his chair around and brought up the Digiport. "Who wants to do the honors?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After the Nippojin Children untangled themselves from the usual entrance pile-up, it wasn't long before a whole stampede of Choosen Digimon were running up to greet their partners. The majority were all there, with the exceptions of Biyomon, Palmon, Gabumon, and... Armadillomon. 

After the happy reunion and pulling Daisuke and Jyou off of the ground, Tentomon was able to gain the attention to both groups. "We're supposed to go meet Gennai by Primary Village. I suggest we get going." 

Izzy nodded as Tai said, "Right. So who wants to Digi-volve?" 

A whole chorus if 'me's rang out, only Hawkmon and Wormmon not saying anything. But in the end, it was decided that ones who could fly were the ones that would. 

Three voices cried out, "Digi-volve!" at the same time two others shouted, "Digi-armor energize!" 

The air began to shrill. 

~*~*~*~*~

"Tentomon digi-volve to....Kabuterimon!" _He is knowledge and wisdom. He is me._

"Wormmon digi-volve to....Stingmon!" _He is kindness and loyalty. He is me._

"Veemon digi-volve to....ExVeemon!" _He is protection and playfulness. He is me._

~*~*~*~*~

"Patamon armor digi-volve to....Pegasusmon: _Flying Hope_!" 

"Gatomon armor digi-volve to....Nefertimon: the _Angel of Light_!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the house under the lake, the Nipponjin Children sat on the floor, their digimon either in their laps or beside them. The partnerless ones sat in a small group, feeling upset and unneeded for this mission. 

Gennai turned around with a grave expression on his face. In front of him was an ancient book, the writing illegible, and the pages themselves were aged from white to an old yellow. "The situation is very serious. Oxinimon is a devil digimon, a nasty virus in the system, although I don't know how much Koushiro had told you." 

"I told them almost everything you told me, except for the....." Izzy bowed him head, blushing a touch. The other Digidestined crowded around him, blinking. 

"What haven't you told us, Izzy?" ask Kari. 

Gennai gave a curious face, pulling Koushiro away from the leering eyes, asking in a hushed whisper, "What did I say that was embarassing?" 

Izzy said something under his breath, mumbling something about the last part (whatever that means), slowly becoming redder by the second. The holder of Knowledge motioned for Gennai to lower his head and whispered what he meant. 

The other Digidestined all sweatdropped when Gennai pulled away, blue in the face and denying whatever Izzy had said. "I meant corndogs! Corn! Dogs! Not..... those!" 

"Well it's one heck a typo!" 

"I can see that!" 

The mess was quickly cleaned up, and everything returned to normal, except for a more relieved Koushiro and Gennai trying to hide his mortification. "Anyway.... umm... This child that is with Oxinimon is, indeed, a Digidestined, but something is wrong. He... just didn't pick up at all and theories and suspicions are being thrown around left and right. But what's more important is that the pair are clearing out the entire Digital world, digimon by digimon. And we've only called you in, because of personal reasons with the others. 

"You need to stop them, imediately." 

Biyomon stood up from the gathering of Digimon, frowning in sadness. "But what about us? We don't have the power to digi-volve.." 

Gennai smiled. "I'll get to that in a minute, but let me show them something first." He motioned for the seven Digidestined to come closer and spun the book around, pointed to a picture on the page. The picture was of a digimon that resembled a black Veemon with large bat ears and a toothy, evil grin. A fire orange jewel adjorned his dull grey breastplate, and his wrists were covered with, what looked like, Mummymon's bandages, hanging loose at the ends. "This is Oxinimon from centuries ago. And this," he flipped the page, "is his champion stage, the last recorded stage before having been destroyed." 

It was of a black dragon, armored with blood red platings, with a long, long tail curling around like a living whip. His neck was also long, craned down, sniffing the ground. The trees in the background suggested that he was only eleven or twelve feet tall. 

"So we have to go find him? Do you know what form he is in now?" 

Gennai shook his head at Taichi. "No, we don't. But having reached Oxinimon four years ago, he could be anywhere from rookie to mega." He closed the older version digi-analyzer. "And now I need to prepare you. Betamon!" 

From a door off to the side, the small amphibious digimon bounded in, a yellow glowing ball on his back. "Here Gennai!" 

The man nodded his thanks and Betamon joined the partnerless digimon, making conversation like nothing was happening. They didn't seem to mind at all. 

The orb was softed and fuzzy to the touch and Gennai looked up from it. "If you would, Takeru, Ken, Tai, Izzy, Jyou, put your digivices on the table." 

The Digidestined exchanged glances, then shrugged and the five put the small devices on the wooden surface. Gennai eyed them. _I thought the dark digivice would change after the years of working for the good side... I'll figure it out sooner or later._

The guardian murmured a few words in Digitalia and the digimon stopped to listen. 

"_May the Guardian of Courtesy,_" Betamon began to glow, "_bond with the first Keeper of Courage._" 

"_May the primary Guardian of Love,_" Biyomon began to glow, "_bond with the first Keeper of Reliability._" 

"_May the primary Guardian of Friendship,_" Gabumon began to glow, "_bond with the Keeper of Hope._" 

"_May the primary Guardian of Sincerity,_" Palmon began to glow, "_bond with the first Keeper of Knowledge._" 

"_May the secondary Guardian of Love and Sincerity,_" Hawkmon began to glow, "_bond with the Keeper of Kindness._" 

The digivices, more precisely the tiny window, started to glow as well, bathing the whole room in the color of the sphere. The sharp shrill that accompanied divi-volving sounded and Gennai mentally smacked himself in the forehead for *not* taking this outside the lake. 

"Betamon digi-volve to....Seadramon!" _He is courtesy and a shield. He is me._

"Biyomon digi-volve to....Birdramon!" _She is motherly love and tenderhearted. She is me._

"Gabumon digi-volve to....Garurumon!" _He is friendship and the wise mon. He is me._

"Palmon digi-volve to....Togemon!" _She is sincerity and strength. She is me._

"Hawkmon digi-volve to....Aquillomon!" _He is winged love and truth. He is me._

The room was quickly filled with feathers, fur, coils, and.... 

Four digimon, plus a guardian and one child ran out of the house (and the lake) in a flash. They pranced around in the dance of pain as various cactus needles stuck out in places on the body, most centering around the area of the rear and/or muzzle. 

"Oops," was all Togemon said. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jasir hmmed softly, fingering the dragon scales below his fingers. Even after all this time, the black armor always caught his attention. The pearlish accent, the shape, their pattern... They were always shined and smoothed... "Ryuumemon?" 

"Yes, Jasir?" 

"I feel them. My new servants are in the Digital World." 

The dragon digimon nodded his head, being careful not to pitch his friend off of it. "Should we go after them? They are most likely with Gennai. Or should we wait?" 

Jasir put some thought into that. He wanted to hunt them down and pick up those who would serve him, but the down side to letting the Digidestined do the searching instead would take too long and Jasir didn't like waiting when victory was closer than ever. "I guess we should wait. Looking for them wastes our energy; them looking for us wastes theirs." 

The virus gave a half smile. "Good thinking. Anyplace in particular you want to go?" 

"......Let's go back to Saidramon's lake. That Armadillomon's death might shake them up, if what you said is true." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now relocated outside, with Togemon de-digi-volved to Palmon, Gennai enlightened the Children with the spell he cast and the truth. "As Izzy has explained, yes, I did need you for the reasons I gave, but the reasons I couldn't summon the rest of them was because a dark energy was blocking the entrances to the digital world." 

Voices began to rise from the Digidestined and the Digimon as questions were thrown about. "What do you mean?" "Is this related to Oxinimon?" "Why couldn't you get the others?" 

"One at a time!" The guardian waited until the group settled down before continuing. "We were lucky enough to have two chances at deflecting the dark energy from the barrier. One was the email to Izzy, which made us prepare to the exact second you'd be arriving. We wanted a high concentration of Chosen Ones and seven of you, eight including Iori, were still in Japan. We needed to convince you most definitely to come, but we also knew Cody would never come back.... Unfortunately, with Armadillomon gone, there was nothing he could really do. 

"As for the weird mumbo jumbo words, that was a program that I entered into the Digimon. They are now allowed to digi-volve with the assistance of the digivices. For safety in numbers and power-wise reasons, it was a must. By now, I'm sure the Digimon who their second partners are. But I warn you to be careful. Oxinimon is mischievous, devious, and clever. It would be wise to pair up once things go underhand, although, with the odd number, one going to have three in a group." 

"Should we also be aware of looking out for how they went undetected for years?" Izzy asked, not noticing Palmon scooting closer to him. 

"If you happen to stumble across that, it would be most abliged." 

"Wait!" cried Davis (the one Keeper who had been spiked by Togemon and was laying on his stomach), before Gennai wished them good luck. "You said that you only had enough power to send through the portal an email and us once. How're we supposed to get home?!" 

The Digidestined face-faulted and the guardian sweatdropped. "We... didn't think of that." Nineteen groans were his response and Gennai slapped his face. "Okay, that's a problem, I know. The power is blocking the openings, and we're hoping that Oxinimon's defeat will unblock them, so... Right." 

Eventually, Gennai supplied the Children with a few pieces of equipment and left them to give them and the digimon a more appropriate reunion, with the addition to their new one. 

Izzy was busy analyzing the positives and negatives to working with both Palmon and Tentomon and educating them on how their attacks could be used together for more effectiveness. 

Joe was just blinking at Biyomon like she was the most interesting and abnormal thing he'd ever seen. Gomamon snapped him out of his trance twice and refused to say what was on his mind. 

Taichi was ranting about how cool it was to have a fire digimon and an amphibious one that specializes in lightning. Agumon was psyched up with him and Betamon just smiled. Maybe the Prime Keeper of Courage was the thing that could bring Betamon out of his reserved side. 

TK and Gabumon were having a heart-to-heart talk about their common subject: Matt. Takeru rambled on about his older brother, both good and bad topics slipping in, and Gabumon listened with an open ear. ... Patamon was about ready to fall asleep on TK's head. 

And Ken, Hikari, and Daisuke were sitting (and lying) on the lake shore, wondering why Hawkmon was joined with Ken and not Kari. Gatomon was resting in the Light Angel's lap and Veemon and Wormmon were making faces in the reflection of the water. 

"It doesn't make any sense." 

Kari smiled and patted the bluenette's shoulder. "Logic means nothing in the Digiworld. You know that." 

"Maybe," pipped up the bird, winking, "it's because Yolei still has a crush on Ken." 

The boy broke out into a bright red and blushed harder when Dai laughed. "Ah, young love. Not even the seas can snip it short." 

"Oh please, Dai-kun. Spare me the blunt news," said Ken, shaking his head in distress. "Not that I mind her; I'm flattered, actually... but she's not my type." 

Kari scratched behind the cat's ears, watching her tail twitch. "Well, you really shouldn't be rushing into love. Sora knew that very well, but I think Miya-chan's trying to deny her knowledge of love. She *is* its secondary Keeper, after all." Her gaze fell on Davis and Hikari held back a small giggle. "So, how's the backside, Dai-kun?" 

Daisuke's mood instantly turned sour. "I'm sure it'll be better eventually..." But then suddenly he brightened up. "So, how about the three of us pair up?" 

The two other Children eyebrows went up. "Well, it would be wise," said Ken, thinking, "since I have Hikari's Jogress digimon partner and I *am* yours, but--" 

"--why do we sense a second motive from you?" Ken and Hikari exchanged curious glances, and then smiles. Daisuke stared at both of them like they had both grown a second head, or worse yet, the second head was each other. _Oh yeah, sure, the people you care about all wrapped up in one, nice package..._ Kowai_._ But then, he grew serious, an emotion rarely found on his face. "Well, I was thinking. Gennai said to pair up and he even said that their would be one group of three. And I say that not because I want to be close to Kari-san. I have a good suspicion that Takeru and Taichi-sama will be paired and Jyou-san and Kou-san will be together. That puts 'big kids' in every group but this one. 

"Another reason is, yes, the DNA digi-volving partners, which is Ken as the main support, because he is now the partner for the both of us. That brings up another thing... Me and Hikari don't have second Digimon, unlike everyone else. They're gonna have four digimon in their group. Well, stick the three of us together and we have four digimon, with the addition of one person. It's strategic that way." 

Kindness and Light were gaping at him, as was Hawkmon. Heck, even Tailmon opened an eye in bewilderment at Daisuke's confession. "And I never thought I'd see the day within my nine lives." 

Daisuke stuck his tongue out at the white furred digimon and she closed her eye again, murmuring, "Of course, philosophy and maturity only lasts so long." 


End file.
